By New Year. The daycare is closed this week and Keisha is visiting her mother in Florida and the apartment is very quiet. I have been cooking through the quiet. That is what the holidays feel like to me when I am alone, which is most of the time: an opportunity to cook things I would not make on a weeknight, longer projects, more ambitious things.
This week I made red beans and rice, the Louisiana kind, from dried red kidney beans soaked overnight. Andouille sausage, onion, celery, bell pepper, garlic, Cajun seasoning, bay leaves. Long slow simmer until the beans are creamy and the whole pot has a thick richness that you cannot get from a can. I ate it for four days. Brought a container to Gloria at New Year dinner and she said this is not Southern exactly but it is right. She means: it belongs at a table like hers. That is high praise in its way.
I made a list of things I want to cook in the new year. Bread, real yeast bread, a loaf I bake myself. Roast chicken. Roux-based gumbo. Boudin. Things that take patience and time and that I am not ready for yet but will be. I am building toward competence the way you build toward anything: by doing the simpler things until they are automatic and then reaching for the next thing.
Spring semester starts in two weeks. Two classes. A new year. I am nineteen years old and alive and learning and fed. I do not take that lightly. I know exactly what it cost to get here.
That pot of red beans taught me something I’m still sitting with: that patience is its own kind of skill, and that cooking through a quiet week is never really about the food alone. This quinoa red bean chili carries that same spirit—dried beans, real seasoning, time—and it fits the kind of year I’m trying to build: one where I reach for the next thing before I feel ready, and let the simmer do its work.
Quinoa Red Bean Chili
Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 45 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour | Servings: 6
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 6 oz andouille sausage, sliced into rounds (optional but recommended)
- 1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 cans (15 oz each) red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 can (14.5 oz) diced fire-roasted tomatoes
- 3 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
- 3/4 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- Sliced green onions and hot sauce, for serving
Instructions
- Build the base. Heat olive oil in a large heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion, bell pepper, and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 6–8 minutes. Add garlic and andouille sausage and cook 2 minutes more, until fragrant and sausage begins to brown at the edges.
- Season deep. Stir in Cajun seasoning, smoked paprika, thyme, and cayenne. Toast the spices in the pot for about 1 minute, stirring constantly, so they bloom in the oil and coat the vegetables.
- Add the beans and liquid. Add the drained kidney beans, fire-roasted tomatoes (with their juices), broth, and bay leaves. Stir to combine and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
- Simmer the quinoa. Once boiling, stir in the rinsed quinoa. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 25–30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the quinoa is fully cooked and the chili has thickened. The beans should begin to break down slightly along the edges—that’s what gives you that creamy, rich texture.
- Taste and finish. Remove and discard the bay leaves. Taste and adjust salt, pepper, and cayenne as needed. If the chili is thicker than you like, add broth a splash at a time.
- Serve. Ladle into bowls and top with sliced green onions and a few dashes of hot sauce. Serve with crusty bread or over white rice for a fuller meal.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 310 | Protein: 16g | Fat: 7g | Carbs: 44g | Fiber: 10g | Sodium: 620mg